I recently made a fire outside in my fire pit, its relaxing and I tend to get a lot of my thoughts from my hammock reading or sitting by the fire. The evening slowly wore down and nightfall began to set so I stayed outside until I knew for sure the fire was pretty much out for the night. I woke up and as I expected all that was left was half a log and a few coals burning bright orange. I went about my day with business as usual, glanced over at the pit to see the log and coals, but this time the coals were a bit dimmer, and there wasn’t as much smoke coming out of it. I let it go another night, ran some errands,
visited a church couple in the hospital, then came home to pretty much a free afternoon.
I guess out of habit this point I looked over at the pit and decided the itch hit me enough so I’m going to get that fire going again. So I’m gathering some wood and grab my book, I’ve got my lighter clicker and looked down, the coals were now snow white, yet as I lowered my hand to put some starter twigs I felt a warmth coming off of the white coal, actually still rather hot. I could have ignored it and lit some paper and gone from there, I knew by blowing air on the coals while still orange and
glowing, I could have easily gotten the fire going again but these coals looked hopeless and without a chance. Yet something, not sure what but something said to try it anyways.
I took a small branch and moved the coals around, the more I worked them the more smoke would come off of them. Took a closer look, and seen a very faint orange glow beneath the white on the outside. Then I placed some small twigs on top and began blowing air on it. To my amazement the color on the coals began to change and the orange got brighter and brighter, then a couple sparks. Before I knew it the leaves caught along with the twigs, and with much patience I fed little by little more wood into it before long I had a nice healthy fire, perfect for relaxing.
But rather than digging into my book I stared in deep thought and God began to deal with me. We have so many saints in our congregations that are just like those coals before the fire. Wether its elders who have become discouraged over time, ministers who feel beaten down, or saints who are simply worn out by life itself.
Whatever the case may be its easy to look at your walk with God and say, “the fire has gone out”. “Whats the point? I don’t feel the heat anymore, I haven’t truly felt the presence of God in my life in some time.”
A lot of times we go with the easy solution: “Grab some lighter fluid and some matches and lets light this thing”. In the beginning you will certainly have a good flame for a minute or two, but eventually that flame will die down if you go that route, and eventually go out without proper care.
Its the same way spiritually. We think, “Ill go to church tonight, hopefully they play my favorite song and the preacher will preach a fiery message that will send a chill down my back, that will fix everything!” The problem with this thought, is that it may stir us up for that moment, but it doesn’t change us. Only a true move of god power in your life, a move of the holyghost, will bring the change you need to rekindle that fire you once had. You see with the convicting power of the holyghost, we can begin to eliminate those things in our life thats hindering our walk with God!
Speaking of the holyghost this brings me to my next point;
Many scriptures list the wind, or breath as relation to the spirit of God, to name a few:
John 3:8
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof , but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
John 20:22
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
Genesis 2:7
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Acts 2:2-4
2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all of the house where they were sitting.
3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4. An they were all filled with the holy ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Friend, you may feel as if the fire has burned out in your walk with God, you may feel as if theres no hope or no chance of rekindling that flame you once had. But hear me, don’t thrown in the towel until you have given the holyghost another opportunity to do a work in your life, roll the coals around, let the holyghost wind spark something on the inside, be patient and feed that fire with prayer, fasting, study, pray some more, then fast, its a process but before you know it you won’t just
have fire raging in the depths of your soul, you will have a revival fire that reaches and consumes everything and everyone around you!
Final thought:
You’re never so far gone that God can’t still reach you, theres no sin or problem too small or too big for our God too handle,all we have to to is put it under the blood, and let God be God!